COPFS no action cases (2019-2024)
Total criminal cases reported (1)
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total criminal cases reported |
169,894 |
159,184 |
148,925 |
144,957 |
148,998 |
Total cases in which No Action was taken (2)
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|
Total No Action |
15,999 |
15,897 |
13,982 |
13,034 |
13,803 |
Number of cases in which no action was taken, by reason
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Insufficient admissible evidence |
5,576 |
5,226 |
4,445 |
4,488 |
5,424 |
|
Further action disproportionate |
3,675 |
4,004 |
3,325 |
2,775 |
2,664 |
|
Civil remedy more appropriate |
414 |
278 |
384 |
503 |
556 |
|
Mitigating circumstances |
586 |
570 |
368 |
421 |
368 |
|
Delay by Police or other reporting agency |
1,275 |
1,252 |
1,083 |
818 |
927 |
|
Delay by PF |
24 |
14 |
10 |
17 |
15 |
|
Timebarred on receipt |
889 |
840 |
726 |
749 |
529 |
|
Not a crime |
559 |
481 |
472 |
485 |
478 |
|
No jurisdiction |
14 |
10 |
20 |
30 |
56 |
|
Age of offence |
934 |
946 |
742 |
544 |
464 |
|
Other specified reasons |
2,053 |
2,276 |
2,407 |
2,204 |
2,322 |
Total criminal cases reported (1)
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total criminal cases reported |
169,894 |
159,184 |
148,925 |
144,957 |
148,998 |
Cases where No Action was taken as a percentage of all criminal cases reported
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total No Action as percentage |
9.4% |
10.0% |
9.4% |
9.0% |
9.3% |
Cases where No Action was taken as a percentage of all criminal cases reported, by reason
|
Cases in which no action was taken: Last 5 Years |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Insufficient admissible evidence |
3.3% |
3.3% |
3.0% |
3.1% |
3.6% |
|
Further action disproportionate |
2.2% |
2.5% |
2.2% |
1.9% |
1.8% |
|
Civil remedy more appropriate |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.3% |
0.3% |
0.4% |
|
Mitigating circumstances |
0.3% |
0.4% |
0.2% |
0.3% |
0.2% |
|
Delay by Police or other reporting agency |
0.8% |
0.8% |
0.7% |
0.6% |
0.6% |
|
Delay by PF |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
Timebarred on receipt |
0.5% |
0.5% |
0.5% |
0.5% |
0.4% |
|
Not a crime |
0.3% |
0.3% |
0.3% |
0.3% |
0.3% |
|
No jurisdiction |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
Age of offence |
0.5% |
0.6% |
0.5% |
0.4% |
0.3% |
|
Other specified reasons |
1.2% |
1.4% |
1.6% |
1.5% |
1.6% |
Information notes
(1) There is a time lag between receipt of a case and final disposal so that, for example, some cases received in 2022-2023 will not result in a No Action decision until 2023-2024. The percentages calculated above are therefore approximations only.
(2) There will always be a percentage of cases reported to Procurators Fiscal which result in no action being taken. Procurators Fiscal may decide not to take proceedings for a number of reasons, including lack of admissible evidence, mitigating circumstances, lack of jurisdiction over the offence, because the suspected offence is not a crime or because a civil remedy is more appropriate than criminal proceedings.
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